I may be able to climb with you guys. I was also in blue mountains today but I'm in Sydney now for new years. I was planning to drive from Sydney to Melbourne on Jan 1 or 2 (depending on how hungover I am). Then I'm driving from Melbourne to Arapiles to spend a few days, before I go home to Canada on Jan 10. Maybe we can make our plans coincide?

Also FYI I was in Arapiles and I don't think there are many good low-grade single pitch bolted routes, mostly nice scenic trad. Grampians has a few easy grade sport crags.

If your friend is happy doing single pitch trad, you could just come straight to arapiles - there is no shortage of great single pitch trad routes - and hopefully you will have enough time for the rest of you to do a longer route as well.

Another option is somewhere like Stapylton amphitheatre or Rosea, where there are really good walks that get you to the top of the cliffs as well, so your friend could go for a scenic walk whilst you climb. Is following the first pitch and lowering off also an option? Summerday Valley also has single pitch stuff.

You can find easy single pitch sport in the Gramps, but it's not fantastic. Have a look at Wave Wall, Ravine, Tribute Wall. Wave Wall is so accessible you could probably run up there for a few pitches after doing a long route in the Amphitheatre.

As an aside from the topic, I reckon more people have accidents in climbing gyms then on trad crags. With good skills and judgement, trad is really very safe. As is a multipitch. Not that on holiday is really a great time to overcome a fear, but Araps has the best and most friendly trad climbing in the world, if you had time to help her through it, or maybe even a few days with a guide (I'd reccommend Louise Shepherd), she might even discovered it's not so bad.

On 31/12/2013 Cliff wrote:>On 31/12/2013 Wendy wrote:>>As an aside from the topic, I reckon more people have accidents in climbing>>gyms then on trad crags. >>C'mon Wendy, this is just silly. You believe that more deaths, brain injuries,>broken bones, significant lacerations, etc happen in gyms than trad climbing>areas? >>:)

Seems like most of the ground falls I have ever heard off have happened in gyms! Oh, with the exception of Sol :) Plus people tip upside down and hit their heads in gyms (where i've never seen anyone where a helmet! Do they make you where helmets indoors these days?), smash into the wall and break ankles, etc etc. It's probably largely related to volume of traffic, relative level of experience and casualness relative to perceived safety of environment. How many climbing injuries are directly related to a person being on a trad route rather than a sport one or in a gym? A multipitch rather than a single pitch? Gear failure is actually really rare, far more often, it's user failure because either good skill or judgement was not used. one can equally deck out or hit a ledge or the like on a sport route. I'm not counting mountain trad stuff in that though. I'll give you that most alpine rock is more risky, largely due to weather, rock condition, level of commitment required and access/descent stuff.

On 31/12/2013 martym wrote:>On 31/12/2013 Wendy wrote:>>Seems like most of the ground falls I have ever heard off have happened>>in gyms! Oh, with the exception of Sol :) >>Hmm - Mikl alone has had more groundfalls than there have>been at St Peters Gym here in Sydney it seems...>
I'd forgotten that post ... how to make light of years of nearly dying. I think Mikl has turned that into an art form. Still, he says half of them were sport climbing. Solo aiding and bouldering make up another few, leaving a probably chossy new route in the Wolgan and an acknowledged route full of mank that has since been fully bolted - although the reason he decked was still belayer error which could happen anywhere! My main point being is that trad climbing is not really inherently more dangerous than sport climbing or gyms. It's about using your equipment appropriately. After all, I am a big wuss who gets scared between bolts on sport routes, topping out on boulder problems, and I mostly trad climb.